Post by marie on Apr 16, 2011 12:35:27 GMT -5

Diet composition and habitat use of sympatric polecat and American mink in western France

Thierry Lode, 1993, Acta theriol. 38: 161-166

Analysis of scats collected from a resident radiotracked male polecat between November 27, 1990 and April 9, 1991. The polecat exploited mainly woodland in autumn and winter, but marsh, ditches and ponds in spring.

Voles (Microtus arvalis, Microtus agretis, Clethrionomys glareolus) and Norway rats (rattus norvegicus) are the main mammal species. The main amphibian species is the agile frog (Rana dalmatina) but toads (Bufo bufo) are also eaten.

Post by marie on Apr 16, 2011 12:46:47 GMT -5

“A study of english polecat diet was carried out through analysis of stomach contents. Rabbits dominated the diet, occurring in 72% of stomachs which contained prey, and compromising 85% of the bulk of prey remains. Other prey inevitably made minor contribution, with amphibians being the second most abundant category recorded."

" Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus occurred in 75% of scats, while birds, carrion, and brown rats Rattus norvegicus were important secondary items. There was little difference between the diets of males and females."

"Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were the most common prey of ferrets, occurring in 86.7% of scats, but birds (12.4%) and invertebrates (11.3%) were also frequently eaten. Female ferrets ate more non-lagomorph prey items, especially invertebrates and birds than males. No significant dietary differences were found between juvenile and adult ferrets except in summer when juveniles ate more lagomorph prey. There were seasonal differences in the consumption of rabbits, invertebrates, skinks, possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) and small and large secondary prey items."

Post by Heather on Apr 16, 2011 13:53:10 GMT -5

Thank you for posting these Marie, they're fascinating and might give some a few ideas about feeding natural (noting the incident of carrion eating...it not only stands to reason it also explains the perpetual stashing of our little ones )